The news of the Military Governor Of Vaize's second inspection came like a spring breeze from the south and swept across the entire northern region. The dust stirred up by this wind disturbed the northern officialdom, making the people worried that the Governor would accuse the north of not doing their job well feel uncertain about the future.
No one could stop the Governor's journey. As usual, the Governor's first stop was naturally Beijing. This time, Li Yifang accompanied him. Qi Hongyi had been to Beijing twice and was no longer interested in it. When the convoy stopped at the Old Summer Palace, where the Military Governor Of Vaize was staying, Li Yifang opened her eyes wide with excitement like a little girl. The Old Summer Palace was very beautiful. This royal garden with a southern style was richly carved beams and painted rafters. It was decorated with various pieces of royal art. It was completely different from the majestic beauty of the industrialized cities of Nanjing.
The human heart was hard to predict, but this was only a matter of degree. The comrades in Hebei were well aware of the Governor's love for the Old Summer Palace. When they learned that the Governor was coming, the place had already been cleaned. No one thought there was anything wrong with it. It was normal for the Governor to stay in the Old Summer Palace. Given the Emperor's achievements and prestige, everyone felt that the Military Governor Of Vaize was appallingly poor for only having half the rights to use the Old Summer Palace. Even if he had private gardens that were a hundred times larger, it could only be said that these gardens were not worthy of the Governor's status. According to the Governor's orders, the royal gardens, including the Old Summer Palace, were open to tourists on weekdays. They would only be used as residences when the Governor was staying. The Military Governor Of Vaize had only visited a few times. Because His Majesty Vézé was staying there, the tourist business of the Old Summer Palace was shockingly good. Especially in the few months after the Commander-in-Chief left, too many commoners who wanted to get close to the Emperor's aura swarmed over from all over. The Old Summer Palace management office made a lot of money.
Vézé personally liked the gallery in the Summer Palace very much. The gallery itself was not magnificent, but the paintings on it were really exquisite. The management of the Summer Palace removed the paintings praising Manchu Qing by pasting them down. After these paintings were brought into the Museum of History, there was a lot of space, and a large number of paintings of Chinese folklore took up new space. Vézé didn't care about those modern works of art. These traditional works of art gave Vézé a refreshing feeling.
The Secretary of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee and the Governor accompanied Vézé and his wife, Li Yifang, as they walked in the gallery in the bright spring afternoon. The Secretary of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee, Chu Feiyun, said awkwardly, "Commander-in-chief, where are we going now that you're here?"
"Let's work together in Beijing." The spring breeze was warm, and Vézé's voice sounded relaxed.
Chu Feiyun smiled bitterly and said, "General, can you not be like this? Even if we are in the south of the city and the north of the city, the people from our province still feel uncomfortable when they see our comrades from the central government. "
"Your way of thinking is very backward. What happened to the comrades of the Central Committee? Comrades of the Central Committee are also human beings, and they are not superior to others. It's the same in Nanjing. The comrades of the Central Committee will not bully the comrades of Jiangsu. If they violate the organizational discipline, they will be punished. After moving to Beijing, we can let everyone feel what equality is. You don't have to worry. " Vézé frankly expressed his opinion. After he finished speaking, he smiled mischievously and said, "Comrade Feiyun, are you used to being the boss of Hebei, and after seeing comrades who are higher than you, you feel annoyed?"
After being said by Vézé, Chu Feiyun quickly waved his hand and said, "Absolutely not! Absolutely not! "
"Or do you think that the Central Committee wants to take away the authority of Hebei to build Beijing?" Vézé looked at Chu Feiyun's awkward expression and asked with a smile.
After being continuously said by Vézé, Chu Feiyun felt a little embarrassed. He smiled bitterly and said, "Commander-in-chief, don't make fun of me. I'm just not used to you leading so many people around. If we are immediately called to criticize after we make a mistake, we will lose face. "
"How many times have I said that everyone makes mistakes? The key is whether you regard the mistake as a result or an inevitable process of work. The process of growing up is very hard, but that's the meaning of life. If I throw a perfect city to you, what's the point? Moreover, there is no such thing as a perfect city. "Vézé walked slowly and said his own thoughts.
"Commander-in-chief, I only have one request. Don't just listen to the wind. "With Vézé's words as a foreshadowing, Chu Feiyun also put forward his own conditions.
"This is natural. Everything is a process. I'm against blaming you for perfection. Back then, when you were training, you couldn't calm down like a monkey and got beaten many times. But when did I say that this was your responsibility? "Vézé mentioned the past to his old subordinate.
Thinking of the "terrible" days in the past, Chu Feiyun couldn't help but laugh. During the period from Yongan to Changsha, the army entered the process of formalization. However, these brothers who were soldiers generally thought that war was a place to show individual bravery, and as a result, they got beaten many times. At that time, the military judge led by Wei Changrong not only punished them physically, but also tortured them mentally. They wanted everyone to abandon their self-righteousness and completely obey the discipline and commands. Thinking of the grievances from more than 30 years ago, Chu Feiyun felt that he was too cute at that time. The formal and strict discipline forcibly changed everyone's view of war. Later, Chu Feiyun himself felt that he had to do it. After the backbone of the army grew up, the Liberation Army abolished the beating.
Chu Feiyun changed the topic. "As long as it's official business, I have no objections. By the way, Comrade Yue Lianyi is the person in charge of Beijing's urban construction. She's very familiar with the work of Beijing's construction. "
"Hello, Commander-in-chief." Yue Lianyi immediately went forward to talk to Vézé.
"The basic framework of Beijing is set up well. There's plenty of space." Vézé appreciated Yue Lianyi's work, and he felt that Yue Lianyi's southern Mandarin was very amiable. Most of the central government in Nanjing had such an accent. Another reason why Vézé wanted to move the capital was that he wanted to balance the situation of the South completely suppressing the North in terms of talent. The unified college entrance examination system did achieve the greatest degree of equality, but the South had an innate advantage. It had been less than 20 years since the founding of the country, but the South had a formal and unified national education system more than 30 years ago. When the high school students in the North began to enter universities in large numbers, the South had already graduated seven or eight years ago. To completely reverse this situation, apart from relying on time, the North also had to have a sense of belonging. Establishing the capital in the North would undoubtedly promote the formation of this sense of belonging.
After chatting for a while about construction issues and work reports, the comrades in Hubei hurried back to work. Accompanying the Commander-in-Chief to the Summer Palace was indeed a good thing, but even if it was for the sake of flattery, these comrades had to hurry up and work. They could relax at any time, but now was not the right time.
Li Yifang and Vézé looked side by side at the pictures in the gallery. Vézé did not expect his wife to suddenly say, "You talk to her more because she has big breasts."
"Huh?" Vézé did not understand what his wife was referring to.
"I'm talking about the young girl you were talking to." Seeing that Vézé did not understand, Li Yifang had to clarify.
"Huh? Young girl? She looks young, but she's actually about the same age as you, right? "Vézé could not help but laugh. Yue Lianyi was in her 40s, but she looked like she was in her 30s. It was too funny to be called a young girl by his own wife.
"You even know her age?" Li Yifang did not suspect that Vézé had any bad intentions, but she just wanted to play around with Vézé a little.
Vézé said helplessly, "I've seen her before, and I've even given her the May 1st Labor Medal and the March 8th Red Banner Bearer Medal. Yue Lianyi is from Guangdong and was one of the first batch of people to come out to work. She even passed the high school examination. At the beginning, she was still a steel bar worker. It's not easy for a young girl to carry a casing and break steel bars. "
"So you're saying that you're very familiar with her?" Li Yifang pressed.
"I'm very familiar with model workers." Vézé rolled his eyes at his wife.
Seeing that Vézé did not like this topic, Li Yifang held onto Vézé's arm and said, "Don't be angry, I'm just joking with you. I'm old now, and I can't help but envy young girls. "
"Calling yourself old in front of an old man like me, you really know how to pick a partner." Of course, Vézé would not be angry. He was also playing around with his wife.
"The Summer Palace is not bad, but I like the Summer Palace more." Li Yifang commented on the scenery in front of her.
Hearing his wife's words, Vézé felt very happy in his heart. In history, the Summer Palace was burned down. Now, the Summer Palace was only robbed of some money, but the entire garden was preserved. The Summer Palace was known as the garden of thousands of gardens, and it was indeed extraordinary.
"You should enjoy your life in the Summer Palace. In a few days, we'll go to Mongolia. We'll ride horses on the boundless grassland, "Vézé told his wife about the rest of the trip. Thinking of the Mongolian grassland, Vézé could not help but sing, "Horse, walk slower, walk slower, I want to see enough of this charming scenery. The fertile land seems to be soaked in oil, and the fertile land seems to be paved with gold. I've never seen a green mountain as beautiful as a painting, I've never seen a harvest in a painting, I've never seen green grass like a silk carpet, I've never seen horses and cows on the green silk carpet, I've never seen a new village in the midst of greenery, I've never seen a bamboo house under a betel nut tree, there's a bamboo house … "
The rhythm of the song was lively, and the lyrics were full of vitality and positive energy. Even in the 21st century, Vézé loved it. In the prosperous Min dynasty in the latter half of the 19th century, "Horse, walk slower", "Where the peach blossoms", "Little white poplar", "Camel bell", and "Dare to ask where the road is" were all popular military songs among the people. As for whether "Ode to the Motherland" or "My Motherland" was more suitable to be the second national anthem, there was a huge debate.
Listening to her husband sing happily, Li Yifang also hummed along. Arm in arm, the two leisurely walked through the Summer Palace as the sun set in the west. Full of the joy of life.
These songs not only had a huge influence in China, but also caused a huge debate in Europe. The European literary and artistic circles did not criticize these songs. On the contrary, they lamented why China could have such military songs that stood with the people. It was not that Europe did not have military songs. The marching music was led by "La Marseillaise", which began with: "Look, the tyrant is facing us, raising a blood-stained flag, raise a blood-stained flag! Do you hear? Murderous soldiers howl in our land, they rush to your side and kill your wives and sons. "
This kind of war song could indeed rally the people and boost their morale, but compared with China's military songs, it was more tragic than beautiful. China's music deeply shocked their European counterparts. After all, in Europe, it was probably the upper class who had the mood to sing about their beautiful land, and the upper class was probably not interested in singing about the beautiful scenery that could move even the workers. The things they praised could not resonate with the lower class workers. Only when the country was in crisis could these two groups of people reach a limited consensus. This consensus was undoubtedly accompanied by death and blood.
Just as Vézé and his wife wandered hand in hand on the shore of Lake Kunming, enjoying the beautiful scenery. Tens of thousands of miles to the west, a dark-skinned young black man sat under a tree by the river and sang in Zulu: "A big river with wide waves, the wind blows the fragrance of taro on both sides …"
There were some people standing next to him, who looked like his men. From the way they stood with their hands down, it could be seen that these people were soldiers who had received some basic military education. Moreover, these people wore yellow military uniforms with pistols on their waists and shiny rifles in their hands. Slightly different from this modern military attire, they also carried large machetes on their backs, which looked like the Ghost Head Machetes that were mass-produced in China. The hilt of the machete was wrapped with red cloth, and there was a foot-long red cloth at the end of the hilt. The combination of their dark faces and this attire really gave them a majestic feeling that they could be shot at from afar and chopped with a knife at close range.
"Good mountains, good water, good place, all the roads are spacious. If a friend comes, there is good wine. If a jackal comes, there is a shotgun to greet it. This is a strong motherland, where I grew up. In this warm land there is sunshine of peace everywhere. " The young man who was singing was not affected by the cold murderous aura. Although his Zulu singing was a little strange, his voice was as melodious as the original China version. His green eyes were full of melancholy. After singing once, he did not stop and sang again.
This Zulu prince was a little different. If a metaphor had to be made, his experience was more similar to that of Peter I. Nearly ten years ago, Zulu had fought a war with the United Kingdom. Zulu warriors armed with javelins killed nearly two thousand British lobster soldiers and won a great victory. But this was only a victory, and the Zulu people did not think they had won the war. After a series of wars, coupled with the internal division of Zulu, Zulu still lost.
So the prince, who had been in contact with some of the world, changed his name and crossed the strait to the province of Madagascar in China. Here, His Royal Highness came into contact with modern industrial society. The Zulu people, who had a highly military structure, implemented an age group system. Boys were drawn into age groups when they reached puberty, and each age group formed a part of the Zulu army. The people in the age groups left home and were stationed in the royal barracks, under the direct command of the king. After these young people were incorporated into the army, they could only marry if the king approved the whole age group.
With this level of social background, His Royal Highness started as a dock worker and quickly integrated into the rapidly developing local society. Two years later, His Royal Highness had learned some Chinese language and gave himself a Chinese name, "Yu Cun." In Southern Africa, rain was a very important thing. Moreover, the village in the rain was so beautiful that it occupied a good impression in Prince Yucun's mind.
Yu Cun's purpose in coming to Madagascar was to find out what a powerful country was like. In this era of poor transportation, a black man from Southern Africa, even if he was a prince, had no chance to explore Europe, which was thousands of miles away. Even in the nearby white colonies, it was not a small risk for a black man to go. The white man would not let go of any suspicious black man. In this era, southern blacks all had families, and a black man without a family who was interested in anything new was as conspicuous as a white rabbit on a pile of coal. Only in Madagascar, the natives were regarded as people and had all kinds of opportunities to participate in the new country.
Since 1884, China's involvement in Southern Africa had skyrocketed. Prince Yucun's actions, which were different from ordinary black people, had long been noticed by the public security of Madagascar. His identity as a Zulu prince was soon exposed. So Prince Yu Cun did not have to explore hard, and China directly brought him into modern society.
Cultural education could be delayed, but military education had to be strengthened. With the help of China, Prince Yu Cun, who had received basic education and inspection, quickly returned to the divided Zulu country and armed the army loyal to Yu Cun with the help of China instructors.
"General, should we go back?" Watching their prince singing to the river, both the melody and the content were very different from the witchcraft of praying for rain. Next to him, the adjutant couldn't help but interrupt the prince and general's feelings.
General Yu Cun stopped in the provinces, turned his head and said, "There's going to be a war."
The adjutant stood at attention and replied loudly, "Yes, there's going to be a war!"
"So …" General Yu Cun hesitated. After spending several years in Madagascar, he found that he actually preferred China's songs. He had seen with his own eyes how the island, as the song said, "In order to open up a new world, we awaken the sleeping mountains and change the appearance of the river." For a country to be truly strong, it must have its own industry. But an industrialized Zulu only existed in General Yu Cun's imagination.
But General Yu Cun quickly freed himself from his personal feelings. If he could not unify the divided Zulu country, there would be no future. The biggest obstacle in General Yu Cun's way now was not the British, nor the Boers of the Transvaal Republic. The Zulu forces that had defected to the British were the biggest threat. Only by eliminating the upper echelons of these Zulu forces and bringing them under Yu Cun's complete control could he rebuild the divided Zulu country.
The sadness in his green eyes disappeared and was replaced by a sharp gaze. Standing up, Yu Cun walked to the barracks not far away. The attendants followed General Yu Cun back to the barracks. No one knew who started it, but another Zulu song soon began to play in the line.
"Forward, sons and daughters of the Zulu people, rise up, a glorious day awaits you!
Look, the white man is raising a blood-stained flag at us, raise a blood-stained flag!
Do you hear? Savage soldiers howl in our land, they come to you, they kill your wives and sons.
Arm yourselves, compatriots, organize the ranks!
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